Comprehensive Training Programme Key to Moroccan Track Success
23/02/2005
North Africa and East Africa account for over 60 per cent of the best times ever registered in distance races in track. Many sports analysts attribute this success to the population training harder than their counterparts in other parts of the world.
(National Post – 03/08/01; run-down.com; oztrack.com; hwwilson.com)
 [Getty Images] Moroccan runners often outrun the competition |
Among the Maghreb nations, Morocco experienced the most success in producing top middle- and long-distance runners due to focusing more on the pursuit than its neighbors.
Officials realized in the 1970s that wealthier nations were pulling further ahead of poorer countries in track and field performance. Due to the fact that middle and long-distance running requires the least infrastructure and cost, Morocco decided the events should become its focus.
The Moroccan National Athletics Federation developed a highly-organized, thorough and scientifically-advanced training system. The three complementary components of the system are talent detection, technical direction of young athletes and national technical direction.
National federation technical director Aziz Daouda says the programme for finding strong young athletes is very rigorous.
"The success is due to a deliberate selection process," Daouda says. Caravans roam at least 60 per cent of the country seeking girls and boys between the ages of 12 and 16. The reaction speed, endurance and explosive strength of the youngsters are determined after they are subjected to a short run, middle-distance race and standing long jump. Three medical exams with equipment kept in the caravans are utilized in the second phase of vetting.
After the best young athletes are selected they move on to "Preparation Local Units" sponsored by the federation, government and phosphate industry. Here coaches work with the promising athletes to begin their first development stage.
Test results, biometrical parameters, physical tests, and other variables help decide the roughly 60 16 to 19-year-olds who move on to the "Perfecting Local Unit," the second stage of development.
The National Institutes of Athletics in Ifrane individualizes training, scientifically analyzes running styles and monitors diets of youth with the most potential. Daouda says so much time and money is dedicated to create the proper training system because Morocco needs to compensate for the talent and tradition in Kenyan distance running.
Runners who move on to the professional level are provided housing, food, salary and training opportunities with fellow national and world-class athletes at the National Institute of Athletics. The government and King Mohammad VI himself provide money for the facility.
The successes spawned by the training program undoubtedly help inspire younger people to strive for the same goals.
 [Getty Images] Aouita |
The picture of Said Aouita, the first Moroccan middle distance/distance superstar, hangs in many stores and public places in the country. The runner was the original inspiration for Hicham El Guerrouj, whose two Olympic gold medals and countless word records lead to most in the track world considering him the greatest current middle distance runner.
El Guerrouj started running at age 16 in 1990, being selected for the National Institute of Athletics in 1991 and making his international debut in 1992. Cross country running was a key component of his early development, as was the case with Aouita and most young Moroccan runners.
 [AFP] El Guerrouj |
El Guerrouj is known for discipline, dedication, strong will, ambition, a professional outlook and a focus on training. High quality is emphasized over inordinate quantity in his workouts. El Guerrouj's two yearly preparation cycles consist of a mix of aerobic endurance, strength work, power and physical preparation.
When El Guerrouj finally won a gold medal at the Athens Olympics in 2004 after disappointments in 1996 and 2000, he dedicated his victory to King Mohammad VI. The monarch returned the favor a few weeks later by awarding the runner the Cordon de Commandeur honour, one of the highest in Morocco.
The honour is considered by El Guerrouj to be as meaningful as the two gold medals he ended up winning in Athens. The runner, who has become a youth inspiration himself like his idol Aouita, says "I am happy if I can bring children to do sport, especially running."